The Independence mosque in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
Photographer: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images
Culture
Victims of a Forgotten War, Syrians Build a New Aleppo Next Door
The Turkish city of Gaziantep historically was a crossroads of ethnicities. Now, refugees have gradually transformed it again.
Reem al-Najjar still remembers when her family would drive for less than two hours across the Turkish border to spend an afternoon shopping in Gaziantep, then bring a box of the finest baklava back home to Aleppo by the evening.
“As Syrians we just needed to show our ID, not even our passport,” recalled al-Najjar, 34. “It was like an extension of our homeland.”